I drove by today on the way to a fantastic lunch at the Globe (was very surprised to find a phenomenal beer list at a place I've never heard about), and it doesn't look serious. Diner Grill actually looked like it always does (all the lights were on), just no one manning the grill or anyone inside. If it's going to reopen, it won't take long.

Chip Dudley wrote:For the true Diner Grill experience, get the Slinger: two hamburger patties covered with cheese, topped with two eggs, blanketed with hash browns, then inundated with a couple of scoops of chili and served with slices of white bread on the side.

The hash browns aren't on top. They form the foundation.

Nicholas R wrote:Most famous for The Slinger (their version is a plate of hash browns, topped with two cheeseburger patties, topped with top eggs over easy, which is then smothered in chili, cheese, and onions) . . .

Cheese and onions don't top the Slinger (see the photo that accompanies the above description). You get your cheese on the burgers and your onions with the hash browns. Adding more would be excessive.

Here's a prized possession, my Certificate of Stupidity signed by Rich, best grillman ever.

My favorite Slinger story is from several years ago. A group of us found ourselves hungry after a night at the Artful Dodger (RIP.) It ended up being a dismal night for one of my friends as his leather jacket was stolen from the bar. (Don't ask me why he didn't have a "bar jacket" with him, but I digress.) We were sitting next to two other hungry, slightly inebriated patrons. The conversation turned into a bet as to how quickly my friend could eat a Slinger. Our counter mates bet $100 that my friend couldn't finish it in 10 minutes or less. Little did they know that they were betting against a human vacuum. Seven minutes later, our counter mates were poorer and my friend was on his way to a down payment on a new coat. He said he could have eaten it faster if he had let it sit for a few more minutes before the official timer started. The grill man was so moved (amused? bemused?) by my friend's stolen coat tale and the Slinger inhalation that my friend was awarded a blue stuffed dinosaur that was on a shelf. The Blue Thing, as we fondly named it, was a dusty, stale grease-scented relic that never regained the place of honor it had on the shelf at the Diner Grill.

All of this reminds me that I am long overdue for a trip to the Diner Grill when they reopen!

Open, cleaner, better than ever. New menu signs and some new, completely utilitarian fixtures inside are the only differences. The atmosphere has not changed an iota. Cheeseburger with bacon and egg and some swell hash browns hit the spot. One must get ham (cut to order off the bone) or bacon (thick cut and always griddled to order) with anything at DG. If I ever order a Slinger again (doubtful), it's going to have a side of ham on it.

Haha, that's actually interesting! (and knowing how I'm familiar w/Diner Grill's Slinger) Don't know if I'd go out of my way necessarily to try that, but I'd be open to doing so if I ever find myself near one late at night?

Sauganaut wrote:Still not open since the 7th when I checked. In fact, It has never even been cleaned post fire. Doesn't look like it's coming back.

I wondered the same when I drove by in mid-March and saw it still boarded up. Probably too soon to say it's not coming back. Sometimes, if there are insurance issues, these things can take a lot longer than one would expect.

=R=

I am not interested in how I would evaluate the Springbank in a blind tasting. Every spirit has its story, and I include it in my evaluation, just as I do with human beings. --Thad Vogler

Spoke to someone in the family the other day, believe it or not they are still tied up in building permits! From someone who knows how long this takes it should be somewhat streamlined for a business that suffers a tragedy like a fire to get them back up and running ASAP. Oh well Sweet Home Chicago...

Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?...........Louis Armstrong

jhawk1 wrote:Spoke to someone in the family the other day, believe it or not they are still tied up in building permits! From someone who knows how long this takes it should be somewhat streamlined for a business that suffers a tragedy like a fire to get them back up and running ASAP. Oh well Sweet Home Chicago...

LAKEVIEW — Nine months after a fire broke out at Diner Grill on Christmas Eve forcing it to close, the rebuild process has begun.

Construction crews started work Friday morning, knocking the roof off the structure at 1635 W. Irving Park Road that has housed the 24-hour diner for 78 years.

Owner Arnold DeMar said he wanted to get to work on rebuilding the restaurant right away, but the city held up the process considerably.

"It took five months to get a building permit," DeMar said. "The building permit was finally issued on June 20. And then they wanted the diner to have one-and-a-half-inch water lines, and it's had three-quarter-inch water lines for 78 years. That took another four weeks; we just got the permit for that on Monday.

DeMar hopes to be able to open sometime in November, but he said realistically he's aiming for Dec. 1.